Back to search

What is the ruling on working in the global stock market and trading only oil, without currencies or gold, and without working with a margin system?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is permissible to trade goods through the stock exchange if the conditions of a valid sale are met, such as a person selling what they own, because selling what one does not own is forbidden by Islamic law. The Islamic Fiqh Academy has issued a resolution clarifying the positive and negative aspects of the stock exchange, emphasizing that futures contracts are often not a real sale due to the absence of immediate possession, and that the seller often sells what they do not own. Therefore, a general legal ruling cannot be given; instead, each transaction must be studied individually. The Academy determined that spot contracts are permissible on condition of the seller's ownership and the receipt of the commodity, and that spot contracts on company shares are permissible unless the company's activity is prohibited. However, futures contracts on interest-bearing loan bonds are not permissible, nor are futures contracts executed uncovered (i.e., selling what one does not own) permissible. The Academy affirmed that futures contracts on the stock exchange do not fall under the legitimate salam (forward) sale, and called upon officials to regulate stock markets to prevent prohibited transactions and manipulation.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy